Hi all photog,

Next or two years from now I think I'm gonna gone pro, so I need some suggestion regarding lens combo.
Currently I'm on budget and still stuck with 18-55 and 50mm canon lens combo on non full frame body and it have bring me through many weddings and event. It's so inadequate sometimes, but I understand their limit and working around it to get it's best.

Except the full wedding event, I always operate alone in smaller event and engagement with two camera, so:

i) My next target it to get canon 70-200/f2.8 and 10-22/f3.4-4.5, but then I afraid I cannot cover the mid range.

ii) Then if I go with 70-200/f2.8 and 17-55mm/f2.8 combo, I really like to try and incorporate the wide lens effect on my wedding pic later and 17mm is not wide enough.

This all based on my unwillingness to keep changing lens during event hence 2 body, 2 lens only.

So what is your favorite lens combo, how did you manage your shooting with that? Share please

Pls link me if there's such topic before.

Ty in advance!

Assuming u r getting full frame

How is 17mm on a full frame not wide enough?

How many percentage of your shots are in UWA?

If you can deal without needing the F2.8 the EF-S 15-85mm lens is a very good upgrade to replace your 18-55mm. And that 15mm is very capable of getting the ultra wide angle effect. That USM is very fast AF. The coverage makes it a good choice to catch candid moments. You get this lens its 15mm unlikely you will be taking it off for an UWA lens except for specialty shots.

2 cameras and 2 lenses and where no lenses will be taken off consider this:

15-85mm + 70-200mm L is a good combo.
or
15-85mm + 70-300mm L can also be considered if you feel you need that extra reach.

Considering you going pro, you should polish your skill and knowing your shooting style. By then you should know what lens you need. Just my 2 cent.

switch to Nikon...

get the holy trinity

1755mm + 70-200 is more than enough, u compose the frame not the lens compose

Think how to use ur gear, not neccesary need the ultra wide or super tele, u see different photography can present different style in the same scene.


Some ppl always think arggg, I need ultra wide for this scene, then buy ultra wide, then suddenly argg , I need super tele for this scene, buy tele lens, end up lazy to change lens and get general purpose zoom to cover the event.


If I have the choice, 1755mm and 70200mm in crop sensor is the best combo

While in ff, 17-40 + 70-200 is the best combo (70-200 really nice range in FF, it wont really too tele at 70mm which equal to 44mm in crop)

variable zoom lenses make you a lazy photographer

primes are my favourite, force you to be creative

just my humble opinion

As a wedding photog myself. I would say most of the time a 24-70 on full frame or 17-55 on a crop is much useful during actual day wedding shoot where shooing situation could be various and sometime very tight. A 70-200 could be a good lens to have but I find most of the time I will use it will be during wedding dinner only.

So for my choice, I would prefer a f2.8 zoom lens ie, 24-70 or 17-55 and to be equip with another 24mm or 35mm lens as a low light option when I don't want to use my flash. If budget allow of course the f1.4 L is a good choice but if not better stick with one f2.8 lens for all purpose.

Just my 2 cent advise.

There is no best lens combo, only what you want and how you utilized your lens n body.

I'm a wedding photographer and I do mount with 35MM /50mm only all the time.

Depends what you able/wan to create. Lens is only 30%, skills and creative 70%. Just a small tips hope it can help~

True, no best lens combo. I am a wedding videographer and im all wih 14mm,24mm,35mm,50mm,85mm and 100mm macro.

I have use APS-C bodies for events and my setup goes like this -

Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 HSM
Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-S
Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S

My main lenses were the 10-20 and 80-200. Most of the time I move myself to compensate the mid-range. If I interfered other shooter or videographer, I change my 10-20 to 18-70mm.

As what many said above, there isn't any best lens combo but there is such thing as best lens to do get your assignment done happily.

For your Canon counter part, get the 17-85mm since in wedding receptions, you will blast your flash more than anything else so do not worry on aperture for now.

For the tele-zoom, I would suggest a 70-200mm f/4 first. To start with. Alternatively, you can go for Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 or if you are crazy enough, get the legendary 80-200mm f/2.8 L USM. The reason I suggested the f/4 is to safeguard yourself in investment and also a stepping stone to your passion.

Invest yourself 2 sets of speedlite. This is very very essential when it comes to indoor shoot. Get yourself a set of good rechargeable batteries and trust me, no lens can shoot pretty without proper lighting.

my first question is, how do you know how long you need to go 'pro'? what is your definition of pro?

regardless, im currently on a 2 body set up as well. keep in mind i am far far away from being a pro.
i have a 10-22 on a 60d body. a 24-70 2.8 on 5dm2 body. a 70-22 f4 IS on the side as well as a sigma 50 1.4 on the side just in case i feel like taking some portraiture. i feel this set up does almost everything i need it to.

if i were to be in your shoes, i wud want as much range as possible to avoid the need to change lens while having wide aperture to be able to capture sharp images in low lighting conditions.

I use a cropped sensor as well, 70D, current combo is :

8-16mm sigma for my UWA shots
17-50mm 2.8f tamron
70-300mm tamron for telephoto
and the 135mm STM kitlense. My bag also contains macro tubes. So sorta jack of all trades.

however, i'm currently in the midst of changing my lenses to the following

11-16mm Tokina 2.8f (for my wide angle, and so that i can now use ND filters, as my previous UWA cannot use filter)
18-35mm Sigma 1.8f (as the eye sees it kinda shots and when i want to add out of focus creativity and when i want the speed of this lense. basically general purpose)
70-300mm tamron
macro tubes

since you arent doing landscape and at events i would personnally if i were in your shoes, go with the 18-35mm, which imho is enough for stuff like weddings. If you want to be safe you could also bring the 70-300mm but my 70-300mm is not fast enough for weddings which lighting may be an issue.

alternatively, i'd keep your current set up and invest in a good flash.

i then use a 11-

for crop sensor, I'd go with 15-85 + 70-200 (as to which 70-200, it will depend on your budget). 17-55 is nice too but once you tasted 15-85, you wouldn't like anything 17 onwards.

Same like on FF body, after using 24-70, you wouldn't want 28-70 stuff.

Ultra-wide angle lenses are limited in many ways, going 10-22 + 70-200 for example, you miss out a whole lot of important midrange.

Same if you're on FF body, go for 24-70 + 70-200. Skip the 17-40 + 70-200. Alternatively you could go for 17-40 + 24-70.

In my experience, I can get everything done with 15-85 alone (or 24-70 / 24-105 for FF body). the 15mm (or 24mm) is already pretty wide.

er, because leg zoom affects perspective and angle a lot.

primes and zooms serve their purpose.

if a photographer becomes lazy, it's not because of the lens.

Hi, I'm currently on cropped lens body and will not upgrade to full frame yet as the cost
of my next target lense is quite big enough for me.

I sometimes borrow my friend UWA for fun shoot but haven't use any in wedding yet.

Ty for the insight, now I see different photog have their own preference. Now I have to really think hard about what I need and want to create in my future photo before investing on any new lense

Ty, it cannot be any more true than what you said

I think it will make me lazier, but in a hectic event environment, it can ease the burden a lil bit I guess

My definition of going pro is more on the business perspective side. It's more like quitting my day job and my future income will come most on photography. How long I need is depend on the market and future demand. If my side income can surpass my current salary, that's the cue that I'am ready to go pro.

Ty for the advise bro. Yup my current YN flash is really inferior and need the deserves upgrade to canon.

It's too late I guess

I like your suggestion with the 15-85. I will research more on this if it's available on the f2.8 version from the 3rd party maker

Insightful advise indeed, ty much

My advice is go buy EF-S 55-250mm lens as your next lens. The non STM version is going for very cheap now.

It let's you explore the telephoto zoom area. So you can see whether or not you love this range enough to invest in a very expensive 70-200 L white lens.

I have this lens and I hardly use it. So that pretty much can show there's no point for me to get those 70-200 L lens.

I happened to test this 70-200 once, I instantly fall in love with its AF speed and it's sharp image quality & bokeh.
Might contact you once my savings is enough bro, perhaps you want to sell yours with best price

1. 17-85 is old lens
2. 15-85 no f2.8
3. 55-250 you can vomit blood when comes to focusing / low light.

Can I add a little on the above quote ... the 15-85mm beside don't have F2.8, i face some yellowish picture problem that time ... maybe I din get a good copy for it that time ...

the two lenses i shot most with are 85m and 17-40mm

my regular and must have setup is :-
Canon 5D2 + 85mm lens
Canon 7D + 17-40mm f4 lens
most of the time

if i need an ultra wide angle shot, i'll use 5D2 + 17-40mm f4
if i need to take group photos, i use 7D + 17-40mm or 5D2 + 17-40mm
for actual day moments, i normally shoot candids with 5D2 + 85mm
if i need to take candids from further away (coz people can sometimes be shy/uncomfortable), i shoot with 7D + 85mm
during the Chip San Leong / games, i normally shoot funny close ups with 5D2 + 17-40mm and candids with 7D + 85mm
during dinner events, i use my 5D2 + 85mm for bokeh shots and 7D + 17-40mm for safe/compulsory shots

i do own a 50mm lens and a 70-200mm f2.8 lens but i try not to use them both much nowadays coz most wedding photographers use these two lenses a lot.

i do my best to differentiate myself from the rest of the wedding photographers. i feel, the more different my photos look, the more 'creative' is the perception i create when potential clients evaluate my wedding photography work.

if i were to start all over again with a minimum budget and can only afford 1 camera, i'd shoot with a Canon 7D + 17-40mm f4 + 50mm f1.8. when i have money, i'd buy the 85mm f1.8 lens or if i have money to spend, i'd buy the 70-200mm f2.8 non-IS. then i'd build a decent photography portfolio of images.

once i get good at all those gear and i can nail all the compulsory shots in each wedding event with ease, then i'd take risks and shoot with gear that most photographers do not use. most photographers hate prime lenses / fixed lenses coz it's inconvenient and it requires a lot of legwork and changing lenses during a shoot. once i get good at anticipating each segment of each wedding event and i know when to change lenses to shoot what part of the event that comes next, this is when i start developing my wedding style and by differentiating myself from the rest, this is when i can start charging higher that the norm and come up with more and more creative shots for my clients, while still nailing the standard/compulsory shots that must be captured to ensure there are no gaps in the flow of the wedding events.

i hope this helps. all the best!

Q : what is the best lens to buy next?
A : only you know what you need next. hehe

Q : what is the best camera to use for a wedding shoot?
A : the one you own right now. hehe

Q : what gear can i buy to get better wedding photos.
A : none. get good at communicating with the client during their actual day, get good at recognising good light and shooting with the appropriate lighting for the right moments, get good at doing something most other people are not good at doing eg posing your bride and groom, etc

hehe

This post has been edited by johan2: Jan 24 2014, 02:15 AM

1st time heard of this.

my unit now 3 - 4 years old and still awesome as ever.

I didnt realize the existence of 15-85mm till I see its release news with 7D

I can vouch 17-40mm L is the best valued L lens you can get. I carry one when f/4 does the job in my assignment. That was the first Canon lens when I jump ship recently

I have left this thread for a while and almost miss this gem.
Thanks for the very insightful advise and sharing your experience.
I also have seen your works and its amazing.
Keep up the great work, cheers!